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E-SKEPTIC MAGAZINE FOR FEBRUARY 14, 2001
Copyright 2001 Skeptic magazine, Skeptics Society, Michael Shermer
Permission to print or distribute without permission.
---------------------------------
In this issue of e-Skeptic:
PSYCHIC PARROT
RANDI IN NEW YORK TIMES
PRIORITIES FOR HEALTH
THE HEART AS A BRAIN
---------------------------------
PSYCHIC PARROT
I just filmed a short interview for Wednesday morning (February 15) on ABC's
Good Morning America on N'Kisi, the psychic parrot, a Congo African gray
parrot who Cambridge University biologist Rupert Sheldrake says is additional
evidence for his theory of morphic resonance, a sort of "force" that pervades
the cosmos and allows everything to "remember." N'Kisi's owner, Aimee Morgana
of Manhattan, read Sheldrake's latest book, "Dogs That Know When Their Owners
Are Coming Home and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals," and sent him videos
of her amazing Parrot. N'Kisi, she claims, has a vocabulary of 560 words,
which the parrot repeats with such frequency that occasionally the very
thoughts that Morgana has, by chance match the words being parroted by the
parrot. Of course, that's not how Morgana or Sheldrake see it, so they ran an
experiment in which N'Kisi got 32 correct hits out of 123 trials, which,
Sheldrake says, is a one in a billion probability of happening by chance;
ergo, the parrot is psychic.
I pointed out that N'Kisi missed 91 times, which doesn't sound all that
impressive to me, not to mention the protocol for determining what
constitutes a hit was rather fuzzy. For example, Morgana was looking at a
photograph of a couple embracing, and N'Kisi allegedly says "Can I give you a
hug?" THAT was counted as a hit. Of course, we are not told how often N'Kisi
blurts out that particular phrase, or other phrases for that matter, nor how
many different photos were used by which Sheldrake arrived at his billion to
one odds calculation. One reporter who visited N'Kisi had recently lost her
cat. When she met the parrot, it apparently blurted out "Remember the cat?"
Of course, we are not told what else the parrot said, or what else the
reporter was thinking that day.
In other words, the sum of the coincidences equals certainty. Plus, this all
sounds like a case of "remember the hits, forget the misses." In science we
have to consider the misses as well as the hits. As Frank Sulloways likes to
say, "anecdotes to not make a science."
Check it out Wednesday morning, February 15, on ABC's Good Morning America,
possibly the first hour they said.
--------------------------------------
RANDI IN NEW YORK TIMES ON SATURDAY
I gave a short interview today to the New York Times for a piece they are
doing on James Randi and the power of belief. I was unable to glean if it was
to be a light and positive piece, or whether they are going to be critical,
so check it out. The reporter said it would probably run on Saturday.
--------------------------------------
PRIORITIES FOR HEALTH
The theme of the current issue of Priorities for Health
http://acsh.org/publications/priorities/current.html is pseudoscience.
This double issue includes articles on hair analysis, "junk nursing
science," so-called repressed memory therapy, and "voodoo science"
treatments for autism. Lessons from this issue include: (a) junk science:
not necessarily junk nor science, (b) facilitated communication: doesn't
reliably facilitate communication, and (c) alleged repressed memories:
can become irrepressible. Discuss amongst yourselves at
http://acsh.org/forum/altmed/altmed.html
----------------------------------------
BRAIN IN HEART
Speaking of Rupert Sheldrake and weird biology, this from our friends at the
Front Range Skeptics, Linda and Emily Rosa and Larry Sarner:
I couldn't believe it! On the ABC Evening News tonight, Deborah Amos had a
feature story endorsing "Heart Math" -- one of the kookiest movements of all
time! It's also
referred to as "energy cardiology."
Heart Math folk believe the heart is another brain, capable of independent
thought -- a powerful, supernatural organ responsible for telekenesis, etc.
Amos showed the lighter side of Heart Math, but promoted research that
claims to show Heart Math's therapeutic value in controlling stress, heart
disease and diabetes. School children were shown doing Heart Math
meditation exercises. A doctor specializing in Heart Math is now available
at abc.com for consultation.
http://www.heartmath.org/
http://www.creativespirit.net/henryreed/study_intuition/library/Article34a.htm
http://www.usneighbor.org/business/article-stress.htm
http://www.drlark.com/pages/heart_anger.php
http://www.creativespirit.net/henryreed/bookreviews/4book9808.htm
Discover Your Heart's Awareness
Experiments at the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory
reveal human-machine interactions suggestive of a mind-over-matter, or
psychokinetic (PK), influence. Subjects people who attempt to mentally
control the machinery have less success, however, than those who make a
heartfelt connection with the machinery as if it were a living being, and
dialogue with it, asking it for the favor of its compliance. This finding
is one of the ways that Paul Pearsall, Ph.D., in his book, The Heart's
Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of our Heart Energy (Broadway Books)
shares an important new perspective on the intelligent awareness of the
heart.
We are familiar with the imaginative powers of the "right brain" versus the
pedestrian thought patterns of the "left brain." Pearsall introduces us to
the even more revolutionary contrast between the lonely, separatist
consciousness of the brain versus the spiritual, humanitarian oneness
awareness of the heart. He likens the heart to the sun and the brain to the
earth. We once thought that the sun revolved around the earth, but the
Copernican revolution reversed that view. A similar revolution is taking
place concerning the relative importance of brain and heart.
It was Arizona University's Gary E. Schwartz, M.D. who pioneered the field
of "energy cardiology." He found that while brain waves (EEG) are weak and
localized around the head, heart waves (EKG) are the body's strongest
electromagnetic signal. Whereas it has been previously thought that the
brain controlled the heart, through the autonomic nervous system,
Schwartz's work led to the discovery that through the circulatory system,
which is more pervasive than the nervous system, the heart has even greater
control over the brain than vice-versa. Researchers at the Heart-Math
Institute like to point out, for
example, that it is difficult to quiet the mind when the brain seems to
keep pumping out thoughts. However, if you focus an attitude of gratitude
through the heart, the brain quiets down. Try it and you'll see. The heart
can control the brain when the brain can't control itself.
A finding of energy cardiology is that cells store info-energy as cellular
memory. The heart regulates the use of the energy in these memories. Heart
transplant recipients, for example, often have memories and personality
tendencies belonging to their heart donors.
Pearsall suggests that energy cardiology provides a new basis for the
mind-body connection. The heart may provide the link between subtle energy
and physical effects. For example, as already mentioned, PK effects are
greater when there is a heart connection. Similarly, when spiritual healing
is approached as a mechanical exercise, the effect is not as strong as when
there is a heart connection between healer and patient. Research at the
Heart-Math Institute shows that the EKGs of the two parties involved become
in synchrony, and the patient begins to resonate with the healer's
info-energy. A similar effect had been shown in the past with brain waves,
but now it appears that the underlying cause of the brain wave
synchronization is the resonance of the heart connection.
Another tenet of energy cardiology is the spiritual dimension. The heart is
associated with love and our connections with others. While the brain is
satisfied being a hermit, the heart is a herd animal and profits from being
able to resonate with other hearts. Pearsall makes a case that for a
healthy heart it is more important who you eat with than what you eat. He
even suggests that the heart may be the seat of telepathy, because heart
waves have a non-local (aka "psychic") omnipresent existence perceptible by
hearts everywhere, making "heart connections" a psychic reality.
My own research combining spiritual development work with psychic training
has born out this conjecture. In our "Intuitive Heart" training, we find
that when people make heart connections with one another, there is an
intuitive, empathic understanding between the two. This intuitive empathy
can be easily demonstrated via a simple form of giving a "psychic reading."
One form of psychic reading involves heartfelt cellular memories described
by Pearsall. Cayce suggested that the best advice we can give another is to
speak from our own experience. In an Intuitive Heart reading, one person
holds a question or concern secretly in the heart. The other person, acting
as the helper, makes a heart connection with the seeker, and prays that a
personal memory will come forward into the helper's mind that will prove
helpful to the seeker. The helper then tells this memory, and explores the
lesson suggested by this experience. People usually find that the memory
and its lesson prove to be very relevant for the seeker. Pearsall would say
that the seeker's question created info-energy that stimulated a
counter-balancing memory dormant within the cells of the helper.
"When Morty Met John : John Cage, Morton Feldman and New York in the 1950's." Including Margaret Leng Tan performance of Cage's "Suite for Toy Piano" (1948) @ Carnagie Hall, reviewed by Tommasini for NYT
"I made this jar...."
-Dave
"Along the banks of the Savannah River, Native Americans some 4500 years ago discovered that fire could harden clay to a stone-like consistency. These unknown people mixed Spanish moss or palmetto fibers with the clay to make the earliest known pottery vessels in North America.
The Edgefield area is endowed with rich clay resources including massive deposits of kaolin, sands, feldspars, and pine trees, all necessary for making pottery.
The Old Edgefield District birthed a stoneware tradition based on Chinese technology using English traditional methods making vessels
with African slave labor. This area has been dubbed the crossroads of clay because of this international mix.
Beginning shortly after 1800, the Landrum family started true pottery manufactories to supply the S.C. backcountry with necessary
everyday utensils. Basically, kitchen and smokehouse utensils were made, but rarely were items made for the table.
This tradition grew to a height circa 1850 when, according to the U.S. census, five potteries employing 35 people produced over 100,000
gallons of pottery. Three out of the five factories were related to the Landrum family. Numerous factories operating over a period of time
at a dozen sites produced a variety of wares, including molding wares.
The heart of the Edgefield stoneware tradition involved manufacture of ware using what is termed today "alkaline" glaze, believed to have
been derived from information passed to the west by French Jesuit priests living in the orient in the early 18th century describing. Chinese
methods for making porcelain. Edgefield potters took similar materials, basically feldspar, wood ashes, lime, and sand-grinding and
blending it to make a crude celadon glaze. Most typically formed were storage jars from one-half to 30 gallons commonly used for
pickling, sating meat, storing lard, etc. Also, jugs for holding vinegars, wines, and spirituous liquors, pitchers, pans, and bowls for the
kitchen; plus pipes and marbles for the simple pleasure of life.
As competition increased, potters, around the early 1840's-began to slip decorate their wares using iron slips and kaolin-based white slips
resulting in objects that are today avidly sought and esteemed by scholars and collectors as some of the best folk art in the south. The
Edgefield tradition produced many jars and vessels in the swag and tassel design neoclassical inspired and adapted from moldings in Charleston town houses. More rarely, they depicted men on horseback, southern belles in hoop skirts, African-Americans toasting each other, chickens, snakes, crows, and pigs-everyday life around them. Beautifully illustrated in slip are the Rhodes Factory pieces with thistles and tulip designs.
Some of the most interesting and sought-after vessels are those by Dave Pottery-a literate slave trained to set type for Dr. Abner Landrum's Pottersville newspaper. Dave commonly signed and dated his ware, and less often wrote simple verseson his sometimes massive 20 and 30 gallon jars and jugs. Some speak of food, religion, shoes, lions, volcanoes, and money.
Also of African origin are pots termed "face vessels"--usually jugs, but sometimes cups, crocks, or pitchers with a face modeled into the object using white kaolin clay for eyes and teeth. These small objects are powerful expressions reminiscent of African sculpture.
The tradition declined about the time of the Civil War, but still continued to produced similar wares for the agrarian economy, with the tradition finally winding down in the 1930's with the production of flower pots. Edgefield proved a training ground for potters who moved with the westward expansion of America to Georgia, western North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Potters that had actually worked in Edgefield wound up in Texas using traditional Edgefield technologies and making similar objects.
Time brought many changes. The death knell of many potters across the country came with the invention of the Mason screwtop jar in 1858. Combined with the move from the farm to the city, the breakup of the plantations, and the slave economy after the Civil War the tradition died in South Carolina."
Composer Xenakis dead @ 78
"Like other of his works, "Metastasis" and "Pithoprakta" were regulated by Poisson's Law of
Large Numbers, which implies that the more numerous the phenomena, the more they tend toward a determinate end — as in flipping a coin. "I have tried to inject determinism into what we call chance," said Mr. Xenakis, who used the scientific word "stochastic" to give a name to this idea of probability in music."
......and he lived to tell the story.
I guess this is net kitch, hunh ?
Mugsy (Capt. Fork) from the old
Uncle Floyd Show keeps the fire burning for Floyd Vivino, master humorist.
More Terry Riley links from the
Cortical Foundation , interview and add' links @ qaswa, and some other links from music search
Terry Riley has been putting a bunch of new old stuff out lately. Latest I've heard was a late 60's piece commissioned for a disco. He puts mean loops and reverb on the soul 45 "Your no good" and it runs 20 min's or so.
Best of all is "Music for the Gift" where he puts the hurt on wild Chet Baker riffs / another piece on the same disc includes a radio narator talking over the entire begining of a live stage performance "...and we can see from here someone is placing objects on the strings of the piano, ......ping..plink...bling.bling...skrunk....
excuse me, I belive that the performance is already underway, so we return you now to the stage where........"
NYC text artist Kenneth Goldsmith also has a radio show on fmu where he features art as music and music as art (concrete poetry/music concrete, etc) here are his *avante* links and these are his playlists (archived for your listening pleasure / and yes, kenny loves Marianne Nowottny).
from the grass-roots news desk :
Doug's Action Alert #1 UPDATE: Oppose John Ashcroft
There is a lot of good news to report. An unprecedented coalition
of 20 progressive activist groups has banded together to lead the charge
against Ashcroft's nomination. They include Alliance for Justice, Handgun
Control, Human Rights Campaign, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
NARAL, NAACP, People for the American Way and the Sierra Club. They have
set up a website HERE which contains all kinds
of valuable information on Ashcroft's record and how to proceed with our
grassroots effort. Additionally, the Million Mom March has set up a website HERE and People for the American Way has set up a
website HERE which includes an on-line petition
you can sign. I heartily recommend that you visit all these sites, take in
as much info as you can, and then follow their action recommendations.
A new Newsweek poll taken this weekend found more Americans against
Ashcroft's confirmation than for it, even though they generally support
Bush's other nominees. See: Here for more
details. This is exciting news because it shows we are not shouting in the
dark. This issue has touched a nerve with a lot of people. Senator Barbara
Boxer of California became the first U.S. Senator last week to announce that
she would, indeed, oppose the Ashcroft nomination. And many other
Democratic Senators are indicating they are leaning against him, including
Joe Biden of Delaware and Charles Schumer of New York. Democrats had strong
words against Ashcroft on the weekend talk shows like Face the Nation,
indicating that they're tuning in to the American people's hostility to this
right-wing extremist.
So, what's next? THIS WEEK IS THE BIG WEEK, my friends. Ashcroft's
nomination proceedings start tomorrow. He is expected to make a long
opening statement promising that he will faithfully uphold laws he formerly
opposed. He has been receiving coaching all weekend long over at
Bush-Cheney Transition Headquarters. Trent Lott and the right-wingers are
turning up the heat by forming a coalition of right-wing activists IN FAVOR
of Ashcroft, and they are just beginning their grass-roots effort. What
does that mean? IT MEANS CALL, CALL, CALL! And sign the on-line petition
at opposeashcroft.com. And, if you haven't sent out your handwritten
letters yet, GET THEM OUT TONIGHT! All U.S. Senators' offices will be
closely tracking the volume of mail, email and calls they receive both for
and against Ashcroft this week. THE STRENGTH OF OUR GRASS-ROOTS EFFORT IS
KEY to putting Senators on notice that we do not take this nomination
lightly and we will not stand by while Bush tries to eradicate our civil and
human rights with right-wing nominees. Write, email and call. This week,
it's all a question of volume. The more times you call and the more people
you can get to call, the better.
The Ashcroft nomination is shaping up to be the first real political battle
of the Bush White House. The strength of our opposition will send a strong
signal to Bush how much he can expect to get away with over these next four
years. It is up to us to tell the Democrats and the Republicans that we
expect them to hold true to Bush's promise of a non-partisan, non-divisive
administration. It is up to us to tell the Democrats and the Republicans
that the American people expect moderate nominees and that we will not
accept radicals on the courts or in the Justice Department.
Finally, if you still have questions about the role of the U.S. Attorney
General, I would like to suggest an article from MSN which describes just
how important the position is: HERE
Please feel free to pass this message along to any of your friends if you
think they might be interested. For those of you who would like to send me
comments or questions, feel free to respond.
Sincerely,
DOUG HAXALL
Blue Note crowd sees the downside of James Brown.
Legendary soul man James Brown provided a New Year's Eve fireworks show of
his own.
His bizarre behavior stunned a highbrow crowd at the Blue Note jazz club with
actions that included: an on-stage rant in a bathrobe; going into the crowd
to confiscate a front-row showgoer's camcorder, angrily throwing a patron's
chair ala Bobby Knight and saying he had been communicating with the pope.
Dozens of showgoers, including a local TV reporter, were seen lining up for
refunds during the show.
"Never seen anything like it in my life," said one perturbed reveler who
clearly did not share the spirit demonstrated by The Godfather of Soul in his
signature hit "I Feel Good."
Things started going badly early. Revelers were told to arrive at 6 p.m., but
the doors didn't open until 7:15. At 9:15, Brown in a bathrobe was spotted
engaging in a heated debate with management off to the side of the stage.
A few minutes later, Brown was seen having words with two women at a table
near the front of the stage. When the two women got up and left, Brown went
to their table, tossed one chair and kicked the other. Then, with his arm, he
swept everything off their table: beverage glasses, party favors, etc.
At 10:15, he returned to the stage in his bathrobe, demanded management turn
down the sound and told the crowd that they had probably noticed he was
"pretty agitated because these people are trying to take advantage of me." He
mentioned that he had been paid $30 million for the performance but that he
had given back "all the money."
When he eventually came on stage in a suit, he dressed down his drummer at
one point, and raised more eyebrows when he said the pope had contacted him
and said he -- the pope -- was no longer going to hold audiences with people
because he couldn't attract the number of people "that James Brown could."
Calls to the Blue Note's local and New York corporate offices for a response
were not returned.
Wednesday, January 03, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
COLUMN: NORM!
"Music is far older than our species."
What is it about "form following function" that architect Frank Gehry doesn't get !? All those Titanium tiles used for Bilboa's external skin required silicon based fire-proofing ! Some got spilled, now it looks like hell. What an asshole and how defensive can you get ! It takes a design this problematic to fuck up a Titanium sheathing system ! Brings to mind the Statue of Liberty incident wherein restoration workers pee'd right on her shoulder and it wound up making an oxide statement Warhol could die for.
Czech Milan Hlansa founder of Plastic People of the Universe, dead from cancer @ 49
"Rock 'n' roll is the medium to express the situation of man in this world and the world to come,"
"We don't do the music just for the sake of the music. You must be the author of your own life."
-M.H.
The hair of one of Hungary's most popular pop stars has been stolen from the
hospital where he died earlier this week, it has been reported.
Jimmy Zambo, 42, known by his fans as the "King", died on Tuesday after
accidentally shooting himself in the head at home with a pistol.
Zambo's long hair was shaved off before surgeons could operate on his brain,
although they failed to save him.
The hair has now disappeared, the Hungarian daily newspaper Blikk said,
quoting hospital officials.
Singer of the year
Zambo's fans have said they would pay large amounts of money for the star's
hair.
According to police reports, Zambo fatally wounded himself in the head at
his home in Budapest in the early hours of the morning.
He had fired his 9mm Beretta out of a window but failed to realise a bullet
was still in the chamber when pulling the trigger a second time.
Zambo was voted Hungary's singer of the year in 1993 and had won awards for
the best record of the year on several occasions.
His 2000 album Christmas With Jimmy has been Hungary's top-selling record
for many weeks.
Platinum
Since March 2000, Zambo had also hosted his own popular show on commercial
TV station RTL-Klub.
"He was one of the most professional showmen with whom it was always a
pleasure to work," commented Imre Szabo Stein, RTL-Klub's director of
communications.
The singer, whose real first name was Imre, had won the hearts of many
Hungarians since coming to prominence.
He started his singing career in the State Radio Children's Choir.
>From 1982-86 he moved to the US to try his luck on the club circuit before
returning to Hungary. All his albums since have gone platinum.
Zambo is survived by his wife and three sons.
Here lies Dick Shawn .
flic vids
flic factoids
Skull and Bones
more bones...
what more bones.....
dem bones......
Further, toward the Black Mountain College.
BMC
60's poets
project
"Garbolagist AJ Weberman has done it again ! This time looting super star Chan Marshell's (aka: CATPOWER) garbage can. Seems he found two noteworthy documents, a set list from a recent show and a page from her agenda. We share the wealth as follows. "
-b
Set List :
Quit Looking At Me
I'm Sorry
Maybe I should Wear a Veil
I'm Sorry
Shouting About Repression
I'm Sorry
Whoops
Life As An Oral Report
I'm Sorry
How To Get A Lot Of Attention While
Acting As Though It's The Black Plague
I'm Sorry
There's Nothing To Me. Yet The World Hangs
On My Every Complex Moove - I Love It
I'm Sorry
How To Assemble A Credible Band
I'm Sorry
Famous Drummers
I'm Sorry
Matador Pays for My Shrink
I'm Sorry
Matador Paid For My Drum Machine
I'm Sorry
Tomorrows Interview Schedule :
10:00 am - MAGNET (make sure to mention southern upbringing)
11:30 am - RAYGUN
12:30 pm - Close eyes, run finger down a list of hip Free-Jazz Musicians, stop, open eyes, form new band
3:00 pm - PUNCTURE MAGAZINE (act uninterested, devalue self, daydream, end w/ a profound statement).
4:00 pm - Examine Inner Self on the air at WFMU
6:00 pm - Dinner w/ SPIN (dont forget to pick at food)
7:00 pm - SPIN Photo Shoot )dont forget to apply fake cold sore)
9:00 pm - Attend Rave at the MATADOR Offices
complete text stolen from : THE CIMARRON WEEKED #0006 (music zine) w/o permision (po box 820206, memphis tn 38182)
I'd like to send a shoutout to our local NYC goddesses over at Temple of the Goddess
NYC artist JZ8 gave up art to run his Middel-Finger corperate empire.
Nested somewhere inbetween mark pauline and the mit gizzmoe olympics (worse than both but on tv twice a week) is battlebots
. Any one catch the "junkyard wars" marathon over thanksgiving ?
Future location of the next Dick Shawn tribute site. !
"Hello everyone,
My movie "Until the Day I Die" has won the popular vote at Pioneer Theater
short film festival and they will be showing it 5 times a day for 6 days!!
It is starting this Friday through next Thursday. I hope you can check it
out.
Pioneer Theater
155 E. 3rd St. (at Avenue A)
Tel:212-254-3300
Call for schedule.
Friday the 15th - 21st."
rock god Samoa
ltd edition chicken mcnugette in the shape of.....